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Italian War of 1521

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Pre 1900 Military

   Italian War of 1521
   Part of the Italian Wars
   The Battle of Pavia by an unknown Flemish artist (oil on panel, 16th
   century).

     Date   1521–26
   Location Italy, France, and Spain
    Result  Decisive Habsburg victory
   Combatants
   France,
   Republic of Venice Spain,
   Holy Roman Empire,
   England,
   Papal States
   Commanders
   Francis I of France  ,
   Vicomte de Lautrec,
   Seigneur de Bonnivet †,
   Seigneur de Bayard † Charles V,
   Charles de Lannoy,
   Fernando d'Avalos,
   Charles de Bourbon,
   Prospero Colonna
   Italian War of 1521
   Pampeluna – Esquiroz – Mézières – Tournai – Bicocca – Genoa – Sesia –
   Marseille – Pavia
   Italian Wars
   First – Second – League of Cambrai – Urbino – 1521 – League of Cognac –
   1535 – 1542 – 1551

   The Italian War of 1521, sometimes known as the Four Years' War, was a
   part of the Italian Wars. Fought from 1521 to 1526, the war pitted
   Francis I of France and the Republic of Venice against the Holy Roman
   Emperor Charles V, Henry VIII of England, and the Papal States. The
   conflict arose from animosity over the election of Charles as Emperor
   in 1519–20 and from Pope Leo X's need to ally with Charles against
   Martin Luther.

   The war broke out across western Europe late in 1521 when the French
   invaded Navarre and the Low Countries. Imperial forces overcame the
   invasion and attacked northern France, where they were stopped in turn.
   The Pope, the Emperor, and Henry VIII then signed a formal alliance
   against France, and hostilities began on the Italian penninsula. At the
   Battle of Bicocca, Imperial and Papal forces defeated the French,
   driving them from Lombardy. Following the battle, fighting again
   spilled onto French soil, while Venice made a separate peace. The
   English invaded France in 1523, while Charles de Bourbon, alienated by
   Francis's attempts to seize his inheritance, betrayed Francis and
   allied himself with the Emperor. A French attempt to regain Lombardy in
   1524 failed and provided Bourbon with an opportunity to invade Provence
   at the head of a Spanish army.

   Francis himself led a second attack on Milan in 1525. While he was
   initially successful in driving back the Spanish and Imperial forces,
   his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Pavia, where he was captured and
   many of his chief nobles were killed, led to the end of the war. While
   imprisoned in Spain, Francis signed the Treaty of Madrid, surrendering
   his claims to Italy, Flanders, and Burgundy. Only a few weeks after his
   release, however, he repudiated the terms of the treaty, starting the
   War of the League of Cognac. Although the Italian Wars would continue
   for another three decades, they would end with France having failed to
   regain any substantial territories in Italy.

Prelude

   By 1518, the peace that had prevailed in Europe after the Battle of
   Marignano was beginning to crumble. The major powers (France, England,
   Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire) were outwardly friendly, pledging by
   the Treaty of London to come to the aid of any of the signatories that
   was attacked and to combine against any nation that broke the peace.
   They were divided, however, on the question of the Imperial succession.
   The Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, intending for a Habsburg to
   succeed him, began to campaign on behalf of Charles of Spain, while
   Francis put himself forward as an alternate candidate. At the same
   time, the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire were forced to deal with the
   rising influence of Martin Luther, who found support among
   opportunistic Imperial nobles, while Francis was faced with Thomas
   Cardinal Wolsey, who interposed himself into the quarrels of the
   continent in an attempt to increase both England's influence and his
   own.
   The territories controlled by Charles V in 1519.
   Enlarge
   The territories controlled by Charles V in 1519.

   Maximilian's death in 1519 brought the Imperial election to the
   forefront of European politics. Pope Leo X, threatened by the presence
   of Spanish troops a mere forty miles from the Vatican, supported the
   French candidacy. The prince-electors themselves, with the exception of
   Frederick of Saxony, who refused to countenance the campaigning,
   promised their support to both candidates at once. Before his death,
   Maximilian had already promised sums of 500,000 florins to the Electors
   in exchange for their votes, but Francis offered up to three million,
   and Charles retalliated by borrowing vast sums from the Fuggers. The
   final outcome, however, was not determined by the exorbitant bribes,
   which included Leo promising to make the Archbishop of Mainz his
   permanent legate. The general outrage of the populace at the idea of a
   French Emperor gave the Electors pause, and when Charles put an army in
   the field near Frankfurt, where they were meeting, the Electors
   obligingly voted for him. He was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on October
   23, 1520, by which point he already controlled both the Spanish crown
   and the hereditary Burgundian lands in the Low Countries.

   Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, hoping to increase Henry VIII's influence on
   the continent, offered the services of England as a mediator for the
   various disputes between Francis and Charles. Henry and Francis staged
   an extravagant meeting at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Immediately
   afterwards, Wolsey entertained Charles in Calais. Following the
   meetings, Wolsey, concerned mainly with improving his own stature in
   preparation for the next papal conclave, proceeded to stage a hollow
   arbitration conference at Calais, which lasted until April 1522 to no
   practical effect.
   Francis I of France, painted by Jean Clouet. Francis, stymied in his
   ambition to become Holy Roman Emperor, pushed Europe into war.
   Enlarge
   Francis I of France, painted by Jean Clouet. Francis, stymied in his
   ambition to become Holy Roman Emperor, pushed Europe into war.

   In December, the French began to plan for war. Francis did not wish to
   openly attack Charles because Henry had announced his intention to
   intervene against the first party to break the tenuous peace. Instead,
   he turned to more covert support for incursions into Imperial and
   Spanish territory. One attack would be made on the Meuse River, under
   the leadership of Robert de la Marck. Simultaneously, another army
   would invade Navarre; nominally conducted by Henry d'Albret, who had
   lost the principality to Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1512, the invasion
   was effectively commanded by Lesparre (the brother of Odet de Foix,
   Vicomte de Lautrec). The operations were to be funded and equipped by
   the French, who denied all responsibility. The French designs quickly
   proved flawed as the intervention of Henry of Nassau drove back the
   Meuse offensive; and although Lesparre was initially successful in
   seizing Pamplona, he was driven from Navarre after being defeated at
   the Battle of Esquiroz on June 30, 1521.

   Charles was meanwhile preoccupied with the issue of Martin Luther, whom
   he confronted at the Diet of Worms in March 1521. The Emperor, who did
   not know German, viewed Catholicism as a natural way of binding the
   diverse principalities of the Holy Roman Empire to him. Since Pope Leo
   X, for his part, was unwilling to tolerate such open defiance of his
   own authority, he and the Emperor were forced to support one another
   against Luther, who was now backed by Frederick of Saxony and Franz von
   Sickingen. On May 25, Charles and Cardinal Girolamo Aleandro, the Papal
   nuncio, proclaimed the Edict of Worms against Luther. Simultaneously,
   the Emperor promised the Pope the restoration of Parma and Piacenza to
   the Medici and of Milan to the Sforza. Leo, needing the Imperial
   mandate for his campaign against what he viewed as a dangerous heresy,
   promised to assist in expelling the French from Lombardy, leaving
   Francis with only the Republic of Venice for an ally.

Initial moves (1521–22)

   In June, Imperial armies under Henry of Nassau invaded north-eastern
   France, razing the cities of Ardres and Mouzon and besieging Tournai.
   They were delayed by the dogged resistance of the French, led by Pierre
   Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard and Anne de Montmorency, during the Siege
   of Mezieres, which gave Francis time to gather an army to confront the
   attack. On October 22, 1521, Francis encountered the main Imperial
   army, which was commanded by Charles V himself, near Valenciennes.
   Despite the urging of Charles de Bourbon, Francis hesitated to attack,
   which allowed Charles time to retreat. When the French were finally
   ready to advance, the start of heavy rains prevented an effective
   pursuit and the Imperial forces were able to escape without a battle.
   Shortly afterwards, French troops under Bonnivet and Claude of Lorraine
   seized the key city of Fuenterrabia, at the mouth of the Bidasoa River
   on the Franco-Spanish border, following a protracted series of
   maneuvers, providing the French with an advantageous foothold in
   northern Spain that would remain in their hands for the next two years.
   Battles in Lombardy (1521–25). The engagements at Bicocca, the Sesia,
   and Pavia are labeled.
   Enlarge
   Battles in Lombardy (1521–25). The engagements at Bicocca, the Sesia,
   and Pavia are labeled.

   By November, the French situation had deteriorated considerably.
   Charles, Henry VIII, and the Pope signed an alliance against Francis on
   November 28. Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, the French governor of
   Milan, was tasked with resisting the Imperial and Papal forces; he was
   outmatched by Prosper Colonna, however, and by late November had been
   forced out of Milan and had retreated to a ring of towns around the
   Adda River. There, Lautrec was reinforced by the arrival of fresh Swiss
   mercenaries; but, having no money available to pay them, he gave in to
   their demands to engage the Imperial forces immediately. On April 27,
   1522, he attacked Colonna's combined Imperial and Papal army near Milan
   at the Battle of Bicocca. Lautrec had planned to use his superiority in
   artillery to his advantage, but the Swiss, impatient to engage the
   enemy, masked his guns and charged against the entrenched Spanish
   arquebusiers. In the resulting melee, the Swiss were badly mauled by
   the Spanish under Fernando d'Avalos, Marquess of Pescara, and by a
   force of landsknechts commanded by Georg Frundsberg. Their morale
   broken, the Swiss returned to their cantons; Lautrec, left with too few
   troops to continue the campaign, abandoned Lombardy entirely. Colonna
   and d'Avalos, left unopposed, proceeded to besiege Genoa, capturing the
   city on May 30.

France at bay (1522–24)

   Lautrec's defeat brought England openly into the conflict. In late May
   1522, the English ambassador presented Francis with an ultimatum
   enumerating accusations against France, notably that of supporting the
   Duke of Albany in Scotland, all of which were denied by the king. In
   July, the English attacked Brittany and Picardy from Calais. Francis
   was unable to raise funds to sustain significant resistance, and the
   English army burned and looted the countryside.
   Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, from an engraving by Thomas de Leu.
   Alienated from Francis, Bourbon betrayed him and allied himself with
   Charles V.
   Enlarge
   Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, from an engraving by Thomas de Leu.
   Alienated from Francis, Bourbon betrayed him and allied himself with
   Charles V.

   Francis tried a variety of methods to raise money, but concentrated on
   a lawsuit against Charles de Bourbon. Bourbon had received the majority
   of his holdings through his marriage to Suzanne de Bourbon, who had
   died shortly before the start of the war. Louise of Savoy, Suzanne's
   sister and the king's mother, insisted that the territories in question
   should pass to her because of her closer kinship to the deceased.
   Francis was confident that seizing the disputed lands would improve his
   own financial position sufficiently to continue the war and began to
   confiscate portions of them in Loise's name. Bourbon, angered by this
   treatment and increasingly isolated at court, began to make overtures
   to Charles V to betray the French king.

   By 1523, the French situation had entirely collapsed. The death of Doge
   Antonio Grimani brought Andrea Gritti, a veteran of the War of the
   League of Cambrai, to power in Venice. He quickly began negotiations
   with the Emperor and on July 29 concluded the Treaty of Worms, which
   removed the Republic from the war. Bourbon continued his scheming with
   Charles, offering to begin a rebellion against Francis in exchange for
   money and German troops. When Francis, who was aware of the plot,
   summoned him to Lyon in October, he feigned illness and fled to
   Besançon, in Imperial territory. Enraged, Francis ordered the execution
   of as many of Bourbon's associates as he could capture, but the Duke
   himself, having rejected a final offer of reconciliation, openly
   entered the Emperor's service.

   Charles then invaded southern France over the Pyrenees. Lautrec
   successfuly defended Bayonne against the Spanish, but Charles was able
   to recapture Fuenterrabia in February 1524. At the same time, a massive
   English army under the Duke of Suffolk advanced into French territory
   from Calais. The French, stretched thin by the Imperial attack, were
   unable to resist, and Suffolk soon advanced past the Somme, devastating
   the countryside in his wake and stopping only fifty miles from Paris.
   When Charles failed to support the English offensive, however, Suffolk,
   who was unwilling to risk an attack on the French capital, returned to
   Calais.
   Guillaume Gouffier, Seigneur de Bonnivet, painted by Jean Clouet (c.
   1516). Bonnivet commanded a number of French armies during the war.
   Enlarge
   Guillaume Gouffier, Seigneur de Bonnivet, painted by Jean Clouet (c.
   1516). Bonnivet commanded a number of French armies during the war.

   Francis now turned his attention to Lombardy. In October 1523, a French
   army of 18,000 under Bonnivet advanced through the Piedmont to Novara,
   where it was joined by a similarly-sized force of Swiss mercenaries.
   Prosper Colonna, who had only 9,000 men to oppose the French advance,
   retreated to Milan. Bonnivet, however, over-estimated the size of the
   Imperial army and moved into winter quarters rather than attacking the
   city; and the Imperial commanders were able to summon 15,000
   landsknechts and a large force under Bourbon's command by December 28,
   when Charles de Lannoy replaced the dying Colonna. Many of the Swiss
   now abandoned the French army, and Bonnivet began his withdrawal. The
   French defeat at the Battle of the Sesia, where Bayard was killed while
   commanding the French rearguard, again demonstrated the power of massed
   arquebusiers against more traditional troops; the French army then
   retreated over the Alps in disarray.

   D'Avalos and Bourbon crossed the Alps with nearly 11,000 men and
   invaded Provence in early July. Sweeping through most of the smaller
   towns unopposed, Bourbon entered the provincial capital of
   Aix-en-Provence on August 9, taking the title of Count of Provence and
   pledging his allegiance to Henry VIII in return for the latter's
   support against Francis. By mid-August, Bourbon and d'Avalos had
   besieged Marseille, the only stronghold in Provence that remained in
   French hands. Their assaults on the city failed, however, and when the
   French army commanded by Francis himself arrived at Avignon at the end
   of September, they were forced to retreat back to Italy.

Pavia (1524–25)

   In mid-October, Francis himself crossed the Alps and advanced on Milan
   at the head of an army numbering more than 40,000. Bourbon and
   d'Avalos, their troops not yet recovered from the campaign in Provence,
   were in no position to offer serious resistance. The French army moved
   in several columns, brushing aside Imperial attempts to hold its
   advance, but failed to bring the main body of Imperial troops to
   battle. Nevertheless, Charles de Lannoy, who had concentrated some
   16,000 men to resist the 33,000 French troops closing on Milan, decided
   that the city could not be defended and withdrew to Lodi on October 26.
   Having entered Milan and installed Louis II de la Trémoille as the
   governor, Francis (at the urging of Bonnivet and against the advice of
   his other senior commanders, who favored a more vigorous pursuit of the
   retreating Lannoy) advanced on Pavia, where Antonio de Leyva remained
   with a sizable Imperial garrison.
   The French advance into Lombardy and the Pavia campaign of 1524–25.
   French movements are indicated in blue and Imperial movements in red.
   Enlarge
   The French advance into Lombardy and the Pavia campaign of 1524–25.
   French movements are indicated in blue and Imperial movements in red.

   The main mass of French troops arrived at Pavia in the last days of
   October. By November 2, Montmorency had crossed the Ticino River and
   invested the city from the south, completing its encirclement. Inside
   were about 9,000 men, mainly mercenaries whom Antonio de Leyva was able
   to pay only by melting the church plate. A period of skirmishing and
   artillery bombardments followed, and several breaches had been made in
   the walls by mid-November. On November 21, Francis attempted an assault
   on the city through two of the breaches, but was beaten back with heavy
   casualties; hampered by rainy weather and a lack of gunpowder, the
   French decided to wait for the defenders to starve.

   In early December, a Spanish force commanded by Hugo de Moncada landed
   near Genoa, intending to interfere in a conflict between pro-Valois and
   pro-Habsburg factions in the city. Francis dispatched a larger force
   under the Marquis of Saluzzo to intercept them. Confronted by the more
   numerous French and left without naval support by the arrival of a
   pro-Valois fleet commanded by Andrea Doria, the Spanish troops
   surrendered. Francis then signed a secret agreement with Pope Clement
   VII, who pledged not to assist Charles in exchange for Francis's
   assistance with the conquest of Naples. Against the advice of his
   senior commanders, Francis detached a portion of his forces under the
   Duke of Albany and sent them south to aid the Pope. Lannoy attempted to
   intercept the expedition near Fiorenzuola, but suffered heavy
   casualties and was forced to return to Lodi by the intervention of the
   infamous Black Bands of Giovanni de' Medici, which had just entered
   French service. Medici then returned to Pavia with a supply train of
   gunpowder and shot gathered by the Duke of Ferrara; but the French
   position was simultaneously weakened by the departure of nearly 5,000
   Grisons Swiss mercenaries, who returned to their cantons in order to
   defend them against marauding landsknechts.
   Part of The Pavia Tapestry by Barnaert van Orley (c. 1531).
   Enlarge
   Part of The Pavia Tapestry by Barnaert van Orley (c. 1531).

   In January 1525, Lannoy was reinforced by the arrival of Georg
   Frundsberg with 15,000 fresh landsknechts and renewed the offensive.
   D'Avalos captured the French outpost at San Angelo, cutting the lines
   of communication between Pavia and Milan, while a separate column of
   landsknechts advanced on Belgiojoso and, despite being briefly pushed
   back by a raid led by Medici and Bonnivet, occupied the town. By
   February 2, Lannoy was only a few miles from Pavia. Francis had
   encamped the majority of his forces in the great walled park of
   Mirabello outside the city walls, placing them between Leyva's garrison
   and the approaching relief army. Skirmishing and sallies by the
   garrison continued through the month of February. Medici was seriously
   wounded and withdrew to Piacenza to recuperate, forcing Francis to
   recall much of the Milan garrison to offset the departure of the Black
   Band; but the fighting had little overall effect. On February 21, the
   Imperial commanders, running low on supplies and mistakenly believing
   that the French forces were more numerous than their own, decided to
   launch an attack on Mirabello Castle in order to save face and
   demoralize the French sufficiently to ensure a safe withdrawal.

   In the early morning of February 24, 1525, Imperial engineers opened
   breaches in the walls of Mirabello, allowing Lannoy's forces to enter
   the park. At the same time, Leyva sortied from Pavia with what remained
   of the garrison. In the ensuing four-hour battle, the French heavy
   cavalry, which had proven so effective against the Swiss at Marignano
   ten years prior, masked its own artillery by a rapid advance and was
   surrounded and cut apart by landsknechts and d'Avalos's massed Spanish
   arquebusiers. Meanwhile, a series of protracted infantry engagements
   resulted in the rout of the Swiss and French infantry. The French
   suffered massive casualties, losing the majority of their army.
   Bonnivet, Jacques de la Palice, La Trémoille, and Richard de la Pole
   were killed, while Anne de Montmorency, Robert de la Marck, and Francis
   himself were taken prisoner along with a host of lesser nobles. The
   night following the battle, Francis gave Lannoy a letter to be
   delivered to his mother in Paris, in which he related what had befallen
   him: "To inform you of how the rest of my ill-fortune is proceeding,
   all is lost to me save honour and life, which is safe." Soon
   afterwards, he finally learned that the Duke of Albany had lost the
   larger part of his army to attrition and desertion, and had returned to
   France without ever having reached Naples. The broken remnants of the
   French forces, aside from a small garrison left to hold the Castel
   Sforzesco in Milan, retreated across the Alps under the nominal command
   of Charles IV of Alençon, reaching Lyon by March.
   Western Europe in 1525, after the Battle of Pavia.
   Enlarge
   Western Europe in 1525, after the Battle of Pavia.

Madrid (1525–26)

   After Pavia, the fate of the French king, and of France herself, became
   the subject of furious diplomatic maneuvering. Charles V, lacking funds
   to pay for the war, decided to forgo the marriage into the House of
   Tudor which he had promised Henry VIII and sought instead to marry
   Isabella of Portugal, who would bring with her a more substantial
   dowry. Bourbon, meanwhile, plotted with Henry to invade and partition
   France, and at the same time encouraged d'Avalos to seize Naples and
   declare himself King of Italy. Louise of Savoy, who had remained as
   regent in France during her son's absence, attempted to gather troops
   and funds to defend against an expected invasion of Artois by English
   troops. Francis, convinced that he would regain his freedom if he could
   obtain a personal audience with Charles, pressed d'Avalos and Lannoy,
   who had intended to transport the king to the Castelnuovo in Naples, to
   send him to Spain instead. Concerned by Bourbon's scheming, they agreed
   and Francis arrived in Barcelona on June 12.

   Francis was initially held in a villa near Valencia, but Charles, urged
   to negotiate a settlement by Montmorency and Lannoy, who suggested that
   the Italians would soon prove unfaithful to their Imperial alliance,
   ordered the king brought to Madrid and imprisoned in the citadel there.
   He adamantly refused, however, to receive Francis personally until the
   latter had accepted an agreement. Charles demanded not only the
   surrender of Lombardy, but also of Burgundy and Provence, forcing
   Francis to argue that French law prevented him from surrendering any
   lands possessed by the crown without the approval of Parlement, which
   would not be forthcoming.
   Charles V Visits François Ier After the Battle of Pavia by Richard
   Parkes Bonington (watercolor on paper, c. 1827).
   Enlarge
   Charles V Visits François Ier After the Battle of Pavia by Richard
   Parkes Bonington (watercolor on paper, c. 1827).

   In September, Francis fell gravely ill, and his sister, Marguerite de
   Navarre, rode from Paris to join him in Spain. The Imperial doctors
   examining the king believed that his illness was caused by his sorrow
   at not being received by the Emperor, and urged Charles to visit him.
   Charles, against the advice of his Grand Chancellor, Mercurino
   Gattinara, who argued that seeing Francis on his deathbed was an action
   motivated by mercenary concerns rather than by compassion, and was thus
   unworthy of the Emperor, consented; and Francis soon made a complete
   recovery. An attempt to escape, however, proved fruitless, and
   succeeded only in getting Marguerite sent back to France.

   By the beginning of 1526, Charles was faced with demands from Venice
   and the Pope to restore Francesco II Sforza to the throne of the Duchy
   of Milan, and had become anxious to achieve a settlement with the
   French before another war began. Francis, having argued to retain
   Burgundy without result, was prepared to surrender it to achieve his
   own release. On January 14, 1526, Charles and Francis agreed to the
   Treaty of Madrid, by which the French king renounced all his claims in
   Italy, Flanders, and Artois, surrendered Burgundy to Charles, agreed to
   send two of his sons to be hostages at the Spanish court, and promised
   to marry Charles' sister Eleanor and to restore to Bourbon the
   territories that had been seized from him. Francis was released on
   March 6 and, escorted by Lannoy, journeyed north to Fuenterrabia. On
   March 18, he crossed the Bidasoa north into France, while at the same
   time the Dauphin and his brother, who had been brought to Bayonne by
   Louise and Lautrec, crossed into Spain and into captivity.
   The final frontiers of France after the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in
   1559. Despite more than three decades of further warfare, the French
   failed to regain any of their former possessions in Lombardy.
   Enlarge
   The final frontiers of France after the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in
   1559. Despite more than three decades of further warfare, the French
   failed to regain any of their former possessions in Lombardy.

   Francis, however, had no intentions of complying with the remaining
   provisions of the treaty. On March 22, with the Pope's blessing, he
   proclaimed that he would not be bound by the Treaty of Madrid because
   it had been signed under duress. Clement VII, who had meanwhile become
   convinced that the Emperor's growing power was a threat to his own
   position in Italy, sent envoys to Francis and Henry VIII suggesting an
   alliance against Charles. Henry, having received nothing from the
   Treaty of Madrid, was receptive to the offers. In May, Francis and the
   Pope launched the War of the League of Cognac in an attempt to reclaim
   the territory the French had lost; Henry, rebuffed in his attempt to
   have the alliance signed in England, would not join until 1527. The war
   would prove unsuccessful; but Francis and his successor, Henry II,
   would continue to assert their claims to Milan through the remainder of
   the Italian Wars, only relinquishing them after the Peace of
   Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559.
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